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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

I can't speak to a nerve injury as seemingly severe as Denard's may be, but I've gotten plenty of stingers (a type of brief nerve injury) playing football in my day. After the short duration of pain subsides, you have the same range of motion as you did before...except against resistance. You essentially turn into the world's weakest person with no grip or strength. My trainers wouldn't let us back on the field until we could pass a resistance test. It's not a very painful injury, but it sure is frustrating.

There are several things I still don't get. Should Denard get as much rest as possible (and sit vs. MN & NW,) or does he play asap? I'd be for sitting him if the additional rest helps him get that much stronger. If Denard isn't absolutely necessary, and both Devin and Bellomy get game reps, and we're able to win vs. the weaker teams, it is a win - win - win situation: Denard gets stronger for when it matters, the subs get experience, and we still get the wins.

How injuries heal and how much time is good is something I don't completely understand.

“Top to bottom Michigan is about excellence, greatness. You have my pledge I will carry forward the excellence of Michigan football." Jim Harbaugh, December 30, 2014

I've had stingers that are probably a fraction of the discomfort Denard was under, and the thing is I'm not sure how much you can really do for it. Like, my arm is basically numb and outside of some electric treatment and anti-inflamatories, there really isn't that much to do. It isn't like a broken bone that you can set; you just have to wait for the nerve to not be inflamed, for lack of a better word, and then you should get feeling back. So yeah, standing on the sideline probably wasn't ideal, but it isn't a situation that lends itself to easy treatment.

Denard was hurt, I understand. However, After Denard's Tim Tebow moment following the ND game, I was expecting a little more leadership from Denard while on the sideline Saturday night. There is more to being a leader than making big plays on the field. DRob showed zero emotion standing on the sideline looking cold.

Dude had a nerve injury that effectively deadened his left (fretboard) hand to the point where he essentially had to re-learn guitar over the period of a year (anyone familiar with Megadeth's music can attest to the difficulty of that task) due to his hand's refusal to do what his brain told it to do.

I'm not saying Denard's injury is in that same ballpark, but if you use your hand for something that requires more than gross motor coordination (like playing guitar at the speed of light or passing a football in a reasonably accurate manner), then the ability for your hand to react exactly the way your brain tells it to is important. Hopefully Denard's injury is a stinger that isn't as acute as Mustaine's injury was and he'll be able to resume play this year for his sake and his team's; you know it's killing him not to be able to help his teammates on the field.

And let's face it, without him Michigan may be lucky to go .500 the rest of the year.

[EDIT: read the replies below since they add a lot of clarity and clear up some things I was wrong about]

I'll pass along what a former physicial therapist who worked with athletes (who happened to be watching the game with me) said, with the HUGE caveat that this person was very clear that specific situations and diagnoses could change the math entirely, and that this person would not have the expertise to make such a diagnosis even if they were Denard's doctor and standing right next to him.

So...

Nerve injuries happen in football with some regularity. They are painful in a way that would be debilitatiing to anyone who isn't a football player, because football players can shrug off ridiculous amounts of pain and do so all the time. In most of these cases, it is caused by some sort of swelling that cuts off a nerve (in this case a swelling in his elbow that cut off the nerves in his hand) and that is treated by giving a cortisone shot to the affected area. Cortizone is essentially a steroid, but shot into the affected area to reduce inflammation, not to juice. It doesn't help with the pain, just the swelling.

The downsides of a cortisone shot are well known to football fans. The reason you swell and hurt around an injury is to protect the injured area by making you super-sensitive in that area and providing some extra natural padding. Take away the swelling and you increase the likelihood of adding serious injury to an already beaten thing. The other big thing preventing its use in this case is it can cause permanent damage to joints and is not recommended for use with younger patients. For your dad, or on a 39-year-old NFL quarterback, it's not big deal since the tissues are not going to ever be what they used to be, but a 21-year-old is likely to heal 100% and you don't screw with that for a temporary fix.

The other natural way to treat swelling is to immobilize and ice it, however you don't want to ice it and then use it again until the muscle has warmed up, or risk cramps and tears. If they put his arm on ice, he would have been done for the day.

Anyway, it is possible for these reasons that the coaches decided that the best course of action for Denard's long-term health and to preserve the possibility of his returning in this game was to keep the arm warm and see if feeling returns to his hand in 30 minutes or so. Or perhaps a cortisone shot is not even allowed by NCAA (wouldn't be surprising) for an in-game situation, so that wasn't even an option. If anyone knows more, please share.

As a physician (though not a physical therapist) I agree with most of what you said, but would add and amend a couple of things.

The swelling or inflammation in an injury like this is caused by blood flow increasing to the area. This increases delivery of white blood cells to fight infection and red blood cells to deliver more nutrition to the area. So the inflammation helps heal the area faster. This is the reason that an injection like cortisone to reduce inflammation is considered counter-productive. It does take away the pain (the pain is caused by the increased pressure caused by the inflammation) but reducing inflammation slows the healing of the area.

Cortisone is a steroid, but not an anabolic steroid, so it could never be used for "juicing". In fact, systemic use of cortisone and similar steroids actually promote muscle breakdown (although local injections have little such effect).

I have no idea if the NCAA allows the use of cortisone shots within games, but I am pretty sure that these injections are allowed (but regulated) between games.

There are also non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. The most common are aspirin and ibuprofen, but there are also intravenous and intramuscular agents available which are much stronger and may also be used in place of cortisone.

Cortisone is not appropiate treatment for this injury. In addition, it takes hours to days for the affect to be felt. If you've noticed relief from any injection instantly, it wasn't the steriod, it was the numbing medicine it was mixed with.

There is a huge difference between cubital tunnel syndrome (a chronic nerve compression syndrome) and a direct impact to the nerve itself. The direct impact causes a neuropraxia and is treated entirely differently.

There is absolutely no "quick fix" or injection or therapy that will effectly allow him to return to a game any faster from the sideline.

As a physician (though not a physical therapist) I agree with most of what you said, but would add and amend a couple of things.

The swelling or inflammation in an injury like this is caused by blood flow increasing to the area. This increases delivery of white blood cells to fight infection and red blood cells to deliver more nutrition to the area. So the inflammation helps heal the area faster. This is the reason that an injection like cortisone to reduce inflammation is considered counter-productive. It does take away the pain (the pain is caused by the increased pressure caused by the inflammation) but reducing inflammation slows the healing of the area.

Cortisone is a steroid, but not an anabolic steroid, so it could never be used for "juicing". In fact, systemic use of cortisone and similar steroids actually promote muscle breakdown (although local injections have little such effect).

I have no idea if the NCAA allows the use of cortisone shots within games, but I am pretty sure that these injections are allowed (but regulated) between games.

Ice does reduce inflammation, and there are also non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. The most common are aspirin and ibuprofen, but there are also intravenous and intramuscular agents available which are much stronger and may also be used in place of cortisone.

I think this may just be a case of Hoke having wishful thinking or just giving misleading info on injuiries to the media. Based on Denard's behavior in the 2nd half (i.e. rain jacket on, head down, not doing anything physical at all to stay warmed up) he looked like a guy who knew he was done for the day and had no shot of coming back in. I think Hoke's proclamation that he was likely to return was probably just wishful thinking that was disspelled at halftime by the doctors.

I may be wrong, but isn't this injury pretty much the exact same thing Colt McCoy had in the MNC game a few years ago. They had video of him in the hallway of the stadium trying to throw passes and they said that due to the numbness he had no way of knowing where the ball was going. I can't say that Denard throwing would have been any better if he had the same injury and it could have potentially caused more fumbles when running if he doesn't know with how much pressure he is holding onto the ball.

I played lacrosse in high school and for Michigan. I had a very similar injury in my senior year of high school. Despite arms pads, I got popped right on the "funny bone" by a long stick d-man while dodging. We've all hit our funny bone, but this was far worse. Pain shot up my arm into my shoulder, and my entire right hand went numb. The pain was as intense as I've ever experienced. Like we're hearing about Denard, I couldn't close my hand round my stick for at least an hour or so, and for days after, the bottom three fingers on that hand remained completely numb, and making a fist hurt like hell. To make matters worse, even after the feeling came back, even the slightest bump to that area caused a similar, albeit milder, reaction. That was in 1991, and to this day, anytime I bump my funny bone on my right arm, it causes a far worse reaction than it did before.

misrara mentioned a brace as a preventative measure. For my part, I was told that there was nothing that could be done to prevent it from recurring, other than stop taking shots to the elbow -- which was difficult for an attackman.

I hope Denard isn't too hampered by this injury, as it seems that there is little to nothing that can be done to make it heal.

Sing to the colors that float in the light;
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!

I am former athletic trainer who used to work college football for 5 years. There isn't much to do other than keep asking the athlete if they're ready. Treating this type of problem on the sidelines is difficult. There isn't a quick fix. An injection can help but usually these are done with ultrasound guidance so as to take extreme care around the nerve. The nerve innervates the small muscles between the bones in the hand so this injury greatly affects grip. Unfortunately time is the best healer here and hopefully Denard is ready this weekend.

The thing that is most interesting about a thread like this is that we all learn so much from it. I can remember years ago wondering why someone was not playing because he had "turf toe" and thinking that sounded ridiculous only to learn years later that it is a kind of injury that sidelines almost everyone. These kind of "silly" injuries are unexpected in a game of huge hits (see Lattimore's injury) but are just as dehabilitating as broken bones, etc. I'm sure there were thousands of people yelling at Denard to shake it off and man-up but we can all recognize their stupidity now.

He'll just never be good enough for many. Desmond and Woodson never went through this kind of scrutiny and Denard is on their level. Maybe its because of the QB position but I feel its more than just that, for some reason.

Other than maybe one year of Henson, have we EVER as a fanbase been happy with our QB? Even those the vast majority of them have been very good to great?

Bacon said the two toughest positions in the state to play are goalie for the Red Wings, and QB for Michigan. I'd probably add QB for the Lions to that too, but he has a point. It's like OC for Michigan, Manager of the Tigers, GM of the Lions....they're whipping boys, whether it's deserved or not.

Edit: As an addition, in the present we're always tougher. Everyone has ripped on Lloyd, Rich, and Hoke/Borges, but speaks in whispered tones about Bo. But when Bo was coach people would constantly complain about too conservative, needs to pass more, run a modern offense, loses too many Rose Bowls, etc. Godfather of the program right now, and on the bus with the alumni at the Rose Bowl after Bo's final game someone said "well maybe we can finally run a modern offense now."

Because it's just sports, everyone thinks they know as much. Listen to Detroit talk radio about how many people could manager the Tigers better, even though we've been to as many World Series under the current one as in almost the previous 40 years.

Michigan fans just seem worse because they've been so spoiled that in a season that everyone thought looked like a 9-3/8-4 record they get mad when we're not winning 11 games a year, even though we've never done that...and really, no one else has other than for short stretches. (Closest was probably FSU at their peak)

Turf toe blows. I got it last spring and could barely even walk. I could not have run if i tried. It sounds like a joke, but it's actually a sprain on your big toe, which is extremely important for acceleration/jumping. The worst thing is it takes 1-2+ months to heal.

I've had this exact injury before, though not playing sports. I banged my ulnar nerve very hard (funny bone) on the corner of a chair. I had my laptop in my hand and immediately had to yell at my friend to take it from me. I was in severe pain for about 5-10 minutes. I could not use my pinky and ring fingers at all. There was numbness and severe weakness.

3 days later: I was at 60%.

5 days later: I was at 100%.

This is without cortisone or any therapy. Denard will be fine by the end of the week.

The short version: you tell your hand to grip and it doesn't grip because the nerve impulses aren't getting to the muscles. It has nothing to do with toughness. Denard's toughness should never, ever be questioned by anyone here, anyway.

By no means was I advocating cortisone for Denard - just telling people my treatment - which had gotten so bad I couldn't sleep at night. The cortisone eased the pain so I could sleep.

I am also not a 21 year old kid playing football LOL

In terms of elbow pad - I think Denard could wear something - if you watched both this hit and the Illinois hit - he actually dove forward on both plays leading with his elbow and hit the ground. So the impact to the ground is actually causing the pain.

Yes it was exacerbated by guys landing on him but its the initial impact that did it.

If he instead landed on a small pad that might avoid hitting the nerve.

My 2 cents.

Hope he is good to go for Saturday and the rest of the year. I will miss him when he's gone from the program.

I was running back in JV, HS f-ball and had injuries like this all the time. Though it must not have been as bad as Denard's (never came out of the game) I remember feeling like my funny bone had been hit but it was constant for a few days then went away as the nerves healed. With a bad one, no way I could have held a ball and thrown it.--but I dould still take handoffs and block.

Still extremely sensative to this day. Every time I hit my my elbow on the desk I am reminded of my playing days.

You ladies who never played the game just can't relate to things discussed on this board the way some of us, including my 7 year old can, so you should probably just stick to the softball threads.

Dude, I hope your being sarcastic. I am a female and have had broken bones, torn ligaments, multiple surgeries from my playing days. Please, don't pretend that your high school highlights give you a one up one anyone regardless of gender.

that a) there are common football injuries that a female is more likely to experience than a male (ACL tears come to mind) and b) for a lot of people, the worst injury they will experience won't come from playing a sport. It's one thing to get hit by a high school or even college linebacker, but I'll take my chances against Jake Ryan before I'll take my chances with that Escalade doing 40mph, even in a car. Same goes with a lot of other freak accidents.

Also, as far as that softball remark, I've seen some photos taken during a softball playing friend's shoulder surgery, and it was not pretty, even compared to my shoulder MRI's (which were also not pretty). I've had a grade three seperation from playing hockey and have taken hundreds of violent hits to that shoulder afterwards: in no way would I trade shoulders with her, and I damn sure wouldn't volunteer to go through the surgery and rehab process she's gone through in an attempt to play this spring.

I've damaged my ulner nerve as well (programmer's elbow). My ring and pinky fingers were very numb and my grip was VERY weak, off and on. I went to the doctor, but nothing (not very invasive) could really be done in the short term. I wore a brace / splint for a while, did some physical therapy, changed some work habits and bought some ergonomic equipment and it got better in time, serviceable in the medium term, fine now. At its peak I definitely wouldn't be able to grip or throw a football with any authority.

Trust me, if there was any treatment that could have gotten Denard back on the field, then Hoke and Co. would have had it done. I think a fairer question is why weren't we catering the playcalls and personnel more to Bellomy's strengths and weaknesses. No Rawls and they still ran a lot of the offense out of the gun without the advantage of the extra blocker. I would think that the coaches should have been more prepared for that scenario given Denard's history...

There is nothing that can be done in that situation. As a Packer fan I remember in 2007 Brett Favre had the same thing happen to him against Dallas and all he could do was stand on the sideline just like Denard.

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.

I have had both of my ulnar nerve's moved surgically, the one in my left arm got hit numeous time's and according to the surgeon when the nerve is injured the body response is to make scar tissue at the site of the nerve injury and if this is in the elbow this restrict's the nerve from moving smoothly through the cubital tunnel . This cause's pressure on the nerve as it stretches, causing loss of blood flow and feeling. Hopefully for denard this isn't the case.